


Winter Test of Courage Ver Italia

by teecup_angel



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adorable Sawada Tsunayoshi, Everyone Loves Sawada Tsunayoshi, Family Bonding, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Sassy Sawada Tsunayoshi, Sawada Tsunayoshi Has Bad Luck, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22596658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teecup_angel/pseuds/teecup_angel
Summary: After graduating middle school, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Chrome continue their education in the same private school Dino and Squalo graduated from in Italy.During winter break, the rest of Tsuna’s Famiglia decides to visit. While Tsuna is busy finishing his duties for the student council, Reborn decides for another Winter Test of Courage.Main 1827, hinted(?) AlaGio, platonic All27
Relationships: Hibari Kyouya/Sawada Tsunayoshi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 259





	Winter Test of Courage Ver Italia

**Author's Note:**

> 1827 (and KHR) was the pairing that made me start writing fanfic and I remembered my love for this pairing last month while sick (blame the stageplay pamplet my friend XD) so here’s my contribution to HibaTsuna Month this year.
> 
> This is set after the manga but only minimal spoilers I think…  
> There’s a bit of OCx27 at the beginning but it’s vague if it’s platonic or not  
> I’m not tagging AlaGio as it can be seen as platonic

“Do you have any plans for today, Vongola?” The student council president asked, causing Tsuna to almost drop the folder he had been handing to the older student. Thankfully, the older student was already used to Tsuna’s clumsiness and simply caught the falling folder in mid-air with an amused expression on his face. 

It took some time getting used to being called ‘Vongola’ by the other students in the private school he was currently enrolled in, even though he already knew people who liked to call him that (usually Spanner and Mukuro if his male Mist Guardian was being extra annoying). It had only been a year since he graduated from Namimori Middle School and started his first-year high school life in the same school that both Dino and Squalo had graduated from. Unlike in Namimori where the insult No-Good Tsuna stuck to him like glue, everyone knew he was to become the Tenth Boss of Vongola (or, as Reborn liked to call him, ‘Neo Vongola Primo’) and, because of that, he was roped into joining the student council as the secretary of the student council president. A position that he didn’t even want to do in the first place but could not refuse because he was sure Reborn would punish him if he did (he still believed that Reborn had something to do with his sudden position since he was pretty sure that the position didn’t even exist before he was appointed into it). He was just glad that Chrome stayed by his side for the first few months so he could ask her for any Italian words or sentences he didn’t get. Even now, Chrome still sometimes accompanies him, making her the unofficial ‘assistant to the secretary’ which everyone just went along with because they’re part of Vongola and anyone with any lick of self-preservation knew not to get into Vongola’s bad side. 

“My friends are coming to visit for winter break and they’re supposed to arrive today.” Tsuna replied, unable to keep the bright smile on his face at the thought of finally seeing the rest of his friends. 

“Is that so?” The student council president asked as he opened the folder Tsuna had almost dropped to look at the documents inside while commenting, “You must be so happy to have them visit you during our winter break.”

“Yes!” Tsuna nodded as he explained, “I haven’t seen any of them since graduation.”

The last time he saw them had been during their graduation ceremony after all. The day after they graduated from Namimori Middle School, Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Chrome flew in one of Vongola’s private jets to Italy where they would continue their studies while Haru and Kyoko remained in Namimori together with Tsuna’s family. Ryohei had graduated ahead of them and, as far as Tsuna knew, he had been ‘interning’ with Cornello and Lal Mirch but he did come and visit during their graduation day for both his sister and Tsuna. Chrome was the only one among the Kokuyo gang to join them as the others went to follow Mukuro to god only knows where he was right now. Chrome was more than happy to tell him how they were doing though whenever Tsuna would ask so, at least, he had an idea that his other Mist Guardian was doing alright. 

His Cloud Guardian though…

As far as Tsuna knew, no one knew where Hibari Kyouya was at the moment. From what Tsuna was able to read and hear from various reports from members of Vongola, Hibari Kyouya and a few key persons from Namimori Middle School’s Disciplinary Committee disappeared after graduation, including the vice-chairman Kusakabe Tetsuya. No one knew where they went or what they were currently doing. Tsuna wasn’t entirely worried as the list of disciplinary committee members that disappeared with Hibari were the same people that Tsuna knew joined Hibari’s Foundation in the future they had been transported in a while back (he knew because of a list that future Kusakabe had given him when he had asked out of curiosity back then. He was still confused as to why the older man was more than okay with just giving Tsuna anything he asked for). Reborn had agreed with Tsuna’s guess that Hibari was probably making plans and was currently in the process of creating the very same Foundation that he had been leading back in that future, noting that Primo’s Cloud Guardian Alaude also disappeared for quite a long time after Giotto left Vongola under Secondo with half of the Vongola rings much to the panic of almost everyone before appearing with the newly created CEDEF (the entire thing sparked a huge uproar back then according to Reborn that was immediately quelled by Primo’s Cloud Guardian ‘negotiating’ with those against him with only minimal use of the huge leverage he had by having half of the Vongola rings. It was good to know Giotto pretty much had the same problem as Tsuna had with his Cloud Guardian). Kyoko did tell him that she would see Kusakabe once a month in Namimori, getting reports from both the Disciplinary Committee of Namimori Middle School and Namimori High School where she was studying. Reborn had even told him to not worry as Fon told Reborn that Hibari kept regular contact with his family back in Namimori which Fon would get a message about from Hibari’s mother.

… Tsuna didn’t even know that Hibari had a mother.

In all honesty, Tsuna never really thought that Hibari actually had a family back in Namimori. He was actually quite curious about what kind of people Hibari’s parents were.

“I see. Then you’ll be busy this entire winter break?” The student council president asked, signing the document Tsuna had given him.

“If there’s anything that the student council still needs to do, I can help out.” Tsuna replied, frowning slightly as he noticed the mountain of paperwork still left on the president’s desk. The folders on his hands were the ones that needed immediate attention, he was sure of it. But, then again, it won’t be the first time someone had bypassed the secretary and sent the urgent documents directly to the president. It was only when he had become a part of the student council that he realized just how much work the members did. Sure, he knew how the Disciplinary Committee worked in Namimori Middle School but his interaction with the student council back then was minimal. As the secretary of the current student council president, he had a front-row seat on the mountains of paperwork that the president had to take care of and the many meetings with both the students and the teachers he had to both facilitate and participate in. When the president had jokingly told him that it was all to prepare Tsuna in taking his place after he graduated, Tsuna almost wanted to shout in despair (he just knew Reborn would find some way for him to become the student council president). 

“Oh, no. Not at all.” The president chuckled as he handed the folder back to the next don of Vongola as he explained, “I was just thinking of asking you out during winter break? The town I live in is quite near the estate you’re currently staying in and I’d like to show you around.”

“O-oh.” Tsuna blinked, unsure of how to react, “Um, well-”

“Bite you to death! Bite you to death!” His savior came in the form of the high-pitched chirping of Hibird who landed on Tsuna’s messy brown locks, “Tsunayoshi! Late! Tsunayoshi! Late!”

A glance at the wall clock did confirm that Tsuna was, in fact, absolutely late.

“Oh, that’s right!” Tsuna hurriedly grabbed his bag and smiled apologetically at the older student as he said, “I’m terribly sorry, president. I have to go home now. I’ll drop these folders off the teacher’s loung-”

“No need, Vongola.” The president interrupted with a small smirk, taking the folders from Tsuna’s hands and telling him, “Please go on ahead. I’ll take this to the teacher’s lounge.” 

“But…” Tsuna hesitated, wondering if he had offended the older student.

“It’s quite alright, Vongola. It seems I’ve taken too much of your time already. I do have one question I’d hope you’d answer before you go.” The president said, making Tsuna look at him curiously. The older student’s blue eyes were staring intently on the fluff of yellow currently sitting on the boy’s head as he asked, “That bird you keep with you at all times… is it really from your Japanese lover?”

Tsuna’s eyes widened as his entire face turned bright red. He backed away as he stuttered, “Lo-lo-lov-I-I-It’s not like that! Hi-Hi-Hibird is… um… he’s from my… my…”

Tsuna covered his red cheeks as he remembered the last time he had actually seen his elusive Cloud Guardian. 

It had been during graduation day and everyone had been surprised to hear that the demon of Namimori Middle School, Hibari Kyouya, was actually graduating. Even Tsuna had been surprised as he had assumed Hibari would remain in Namimori Middle School even after they had all left. In all honesty, he was pretty sure everyone assumed Hibari Kyouya would remain in Namimori Middle School as a student until he grew too old to pass as an actual student and finally take his rightful place as the principal since he was pretty much the top authority in their school anyway. 

Then again, Tsuna had stopped being surprised by all the random acts Hibari would sometimes do. It had become easier to just go along with whatever the disciplinary committee chairman felt like doing, especially after they became classmates during Tsuna’s third year and he had been pushed into becoming the class’ spokesperson whenever they needed to talk to Hibari when they realized that the older man didn’t bite Tsuna to death most of the time (unless he was either crowding or part of a noisy bunch or whatever offense Hibari could think of, Tsuna had seriously stopped trying to list them all by the second term of his second year) and, even if he did, Hibari seemed to not hurt him as severely as the others (that wasn’t exactly true, it just so happened that Tsuna had become quite familiar with his Cloud Guardian’s attack patterns that he could minimize the damage… most of the time). 

By the end of his last year in Namimori Middle School, he had accidentally become the secretary of the disciplinary committee’s chairman (Tsuna had no idea how that happened. One day, Hibari just told him to come early the next day or he would be bitten to death then, when he did come early the next day, the Disciplinary Committee armband was pinned on his arm and he had been ordered to take note of all the names of the student ids that Hibari would give him. He was later bitten to death anyway for having illegible handwriting), Hibari had tutored him frequently for some reason (which only sometimes happen after all their work for the disciplinary committee was done and included more or less Hibari being amused and appalled by Tsuna’s abhorrent handwriting and threatening to bite him to death if he doesn’t answer correctly the next question), he and Hibari would sometimes spar on the rooftop during lunch break (when Hibari says “join me” during lunch, people assume they would be eating together but, nope, “join me” always meant having to swallow a dying will pill before getting hit by the battle maniac’s tonfa and surviving without any heavy injuries until the school bell rings and Tsuna could leave for class without even getting the chance to actually eat his lunch), and they would sometimes share meals together (mostly the pastries and tea that seemed to appear in the reception room for some reason sometimes. Tsuna would like to think they were Hibari’s way of showing gratitude over Tsuna’s willingness to spar with him since they always appeared after every sparring session but he had always been afraid to actually ask about them. In all honesty, he could see them as Kusakabe’s way of saying sorry for Tsuna having to suffer through his lunch spars with Hibari).

But, by far, the worst thing that could have ever happened to him during his last year in Namimori Middle School concerning the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee was that he had accidentally fallen in love with Hibari Kyouya.

He didn’t know how he had actually fallen in love with him and, if anyone was to ask him why he had fallen in love with someone like Hibari Kyouya, Tsuna wouldn’t be able to answer them anyway. All he knew was that, one day, the dark-haired man was sleeping on the couch while Tsuna was doing the paperwork for the disciplinary committee (a feat that Tsuna was actually proud of as even Kusakabe had praised him for doing a great job and Hibari didn’t bite him to death which actually meant a lot more as everyone knew how serious Hibari took the discipline of Namimori Middle School) when Nattsu got out of Tsuna’s ring without Tsuna’s permission and decided that the best place to sleep was on Hibari’s chest. Tsuna thought his heart was going to give out when he saw one of Hibari’s eyes open but the demon of Namimori Middle School simply sighed and let Roll out of his bracelet who went and snuggled with Nattsu on his master’s chest like it was the most normal thing to do while Hibari seemed to continue to sleep like nothing was wrong. As if deciding that it wasn’t cute enough, a bunch of Hibirds also landed around the two ring animals to sleep as well. Tsuna couldn’t help but take a picture of the entire thing with his phone, relieved that it didn’t make a shutter sound. When Bianchi saw him smiling as he looked at the picture he took later that night, she had asked if he was staring at a picture of Kyoko, earning a confused stare from Tsuna. When the older woman said that only someone in love with the person they were looking at could smile the way Tsuna was smiling at while staring at his phone, Tsuna’s brain had actually stopped working for a couple of minutes as he processed the fact that he may have accidentally fallen in love with Hibari Kyouya.

He spent a few days in denial which didn’t really do anything in the end because Hibari smiled at him one day when he saw one of his Hibirds happily perched on Tsuna’s messy hair while the younger boy was eating a piece of cake and the young Vongola heir decided that, yes, he was utterly, undeniably in love with his Cloud Guardian. 

So he had decided to confess to him during graduation day. It was the perfect chance to do it. He’ll be off to Italy the next day, nursing both his broken heart once Hibari rejected him and his broken body once Hibari bit him to death over his confession. Reborn had sighed and told him that, in his exact words, “In this certain aspect, you really are still No-Good Tsuna.” which confused Tsuna a bit but he paid it no mind as he was determined to confess that day without any Deathperation shots from Reborn (the trauma of having to confess to Kyoko twice using the Deathperation shots was still too much and Tsuna will never be able to live with himself if he did confess to Hibari while under the influence of the Deathperation shot). 

Before he could confess, Hibari had cornered him after the ceremony by the cherry blossom trees (he was pretty sure Hibari had actually been there to bite anyone loitering around to death) and asked him if he was really going to Italy the next day. When Tsuna had answered him, Hibari handed him one of his Hibirds who immediately flew on top of them before landing on Tsuna’s head.

All of Tsuna’s thoughts left him when he saw Hibari smile at him as he said, “That little one will keep you company while you grow stronger.”

Tsuna’s entire mind came to a screeching halt when Hibari leaned closer, placing his hand on Tsuna’s shoulder as he whispered directly to his ear, “I’ll see you soon, little animal.” 

With those words said, the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee walked away from him and Tsuna was left staring into nothing until Gokudera and Yamamoto found him a few minutes later, worried when they noticed that he was just staring into space while his entire face was red, covering the ear where Hibari had whispered to him. 

“Vongola?” The president’s voice pulled Tsuna out of his memories and his blush deepened as he realized that he had let his thoughts get the better of him.

“So-sorry, president.” Tsuna stuttered, rubbing his cheeks as he explained, “It’s, um… Hibird is from a very important person of mine but h-he’s not my… we’re not… ummm…”

Tsuna bowed, making Hibird fly off, as he exclaimed, “Please excuse me!”

He didn’t stop even when he heard the older student call out to him, too embarrassed to face him right now. He ran out of school and hurriedly went inside the car that had been waiting for him, letting out a tired sigh as he dropped his bag on the car seat next to him. Hibird flew around the backseat for a while before landing on Tsuna’s lap, letting out a pleased chirp when Tsuna smoothed out its feathers. 

As the car drove off, Tsuna rested his temple against the cool surface of the car window, letting his mind wander as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

It’s been a while since he thought of Hibari at all, too busy trying to keep up with his studies and his duties as the secretary of the student council president all the while trying his best to understand everyone while they’re talking in Italian. 

He knew that many students in his current school was being nice to him because they knew he was going to become the tenth boss of Vongola (or, if Reborn had his way, the Primo of Neo Vongola) and many were interested in him because of his position.

But still…

That might have been the first time someone had actually flat out asked him out. He was sure that Gokudera and Yamamoto (and even Chrome) had a hand in making sure no one got too close to him but, just because they didn’t approach him, didn’t mean he didn’t hear some of them talk about him when they didn’t know he was nearby. The first time it had happened, he had assumed he misheard them or he was translating it wrong but he wasn’t that stupid to not realize that, yes, some of them were interested in him in a not so platonic way. He wasn’t sure if the president was one of them and had meant the invitation as a date or it was simply a way to get close to him because of their standing. He knew that the president was related to Vongola in some way, something that Reborn had noted as a reason why Tsuna had been allowed to join the student council in the first place. 

Now that Tsuna thought about it, the president was pretty handsome with his blue eyes and light blond hair. If he squinted a bit, he could actually see a bit of resemblance with Primo’s Cloud Guardian in the president’s European appearance. 

Or he was just grasping at straws because he also thought Alaude looked a lot like Hibari even though his Cloud Guardian was obviously of Asian descent and the first Cloud Guardian was obviously European. 

Although, now that he thought about it, Hibari’s facial structure wasn’t fairly common for a Japanese. He wondered if Reborn would know about Hibari’s ancestry. Knowing Reborn, he probably did.

“We’re here, Decimo.” The driver said as he turned off the car. 

“Thank you, Thyme-san.” Tsuna replied as he opened his eyes before he grabbed his bag and left the car. He blinked when he realized that he was by the entrance of the graveyard that was actually part of the Vongola estate they had been staying in. The moon and the stars shining the nightly sky gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place and Tsuna could feel dread slowly fill him as he turned to face his driver (and bodyguard), “Um… Thyme-san…”

“Yes, sir?” The older man replied, waiting for Tsuna to continue as he watched his young boss’ small bird companion fly above Tsuna’s head for a bit before landing on the top of the graveyard’s gate, its black eyes staring intently at the young Vongola don.

“Why are we here?” Tsuna asked, already dreading the answer to this question (he actually had an idea why they were here but he seriously hoped he was absolutely wrong).

“Reborn-san said to bring you here after your work for the student council was done.” Thyme explained, giving a small smile as he continued, “He said that you’d be happy with this winter test of courage surprise he had planned for you and your Famiglia.”

No. He was not happy. He was absolutely not happy at all!

He still had nightmares about the last one!

Outwardly, all Tsuna could do was laugh bitterly as he mumbled, “Is that so?”

He turned to stare at the entrance of the graveyard, debating whether he should just ask Thyme to drive him back to the mansion instead and take Reborn’s punishment later or to actually go and do this nightmare all over again while wishing he wouldn’t be paired off with Lambo this time.

“Everyone has already entered, Decimo.” Thyme added with cheer, “I heard from Reborn-san that they were all eager to see you.”

He meant scare Tsuna. They were all eager to scare Tsuna… again.

Tsuna sighed once more and raised his hand until it was by his face, watching as Hibird flew off the gates and landed on his palm. The cute little bird tilted its head as it stared at him and he sighed as he mumbled, “Guess I have no choice, don’t I?”

“Do your best! Do your best!” Hibird chirped, flapping its wings without flying away, “Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!” 

He never did find out where Hibird learn his full first name. No one called him ‘Tsunayoshi’ at Namimori Middle School.

Except for Hibari who would sometimes call him ‘Sawada Tsunayoshi’ like the older Hibari from the future used to do.

Every time Hibari called him that, Tsuna could feel his heartbeat a little faster and he would be embarrassingly clumsier than usual as he remembered the intense stare he would always receive from the older Hibari in the future, making him blush uncontrollably in Hibari’s presence because he could not hide the fact that, while Hibari scared him whether it was in the present or the future, he did unintentionally developed a crush on the older Hibari from the future. Tsuna had been mortified when Reborn had waved it off as a ‘fear boner’ when he noticed Tsuna’s crush back then and Lal Mirch simply shook her head and made Tsuna train even harder every time she noticed him slipping in Hibari’s presence which was totally unfair because he never slipped while they were training, it was always after they trained!

…. Or before they trained… or actually any other time he was near the older Hibari and he wasn’t getting beaten up or no one was in trouble or dying.

Oh god. He was so obvious back then that even the older Kusakabe knew about his crush and even patted his back when he had accidentally grabbed the older man’s sleeve and begged him to join them for dinner one night in a sudden bout of insanity (he blamed the well-aimed kick on the head he received from Reborn a few minutes prior), stuttering and blushing the entire time like the first time he had ever talked to Kyoko. 

Tsuna sighed once more and dropped his hand, letting Hibird rest on his hair once more like it was his personal birdnest as he shook his head. Being reminded of Hibari Kyouya was simply bad for his health, it seemed. 

He wanted to blame the student council president for this. He was doing just fine not thinking of his Cloud Guardian before today.

Plus, he absolutely did not want to think that the older Hibari from the future actually knew about his crush. At the very least, the Hibari of this time didn’t know that Tsuna was in love with him. (Kusakabe probably knew though… considering the pitying smile he used to give Tsuna whenever he saw him with Hibari back in middle school.)

He offered his bag to Thyme and asked, “Please look after my bag, Thyme-san.”

“Of course, Decimo.” Thyme cheerfully agreed as he took Tsuna’s bag from him. Tsuna took a deep breath and gulped before finally walking in.

The graveyard was as dark and ominous as he had expected. And very, very large…

Tsuna knew that Vongola was a mafia family with many members and a long ‘rich’ history but the size of this graveyard was painting a very not so good picture of said history if he was being very honest with himself right now.

For now, the best course of action was to follow the paved path as that would lead to the exit on the other side of the graveyard.

Tsuna snorted at his own thoughts.

The best course of action was to actually pop one of the dying will pills he had and use his gloves to just fly out of the graveyard as fast as he could.

But he was sure Reborn would punish him if he did just that.

Also, he’d be disappointing his friends who were waiting to scare him.

He was just glad Bianchi didn’t come with them. At the very least, there would be no surprise attack from her.

He blinked when he noticed the three children just a few feet ahead of him. He frowned, wondering if they were planning to do the faceless trick like what Gokudera and I-Pin did before.

He steeled himself and called out, “Fuuta, I-Pin, Lambo.”

Before he knew what was happening, Lambo had charged him, wrapping his arms and legs around his head as he cried, “Lambo-san isn’t scared! Lambo-san isn’t scared at all!”

“Lambo!” Fuuta called out, his voice becoming nearer as he scolded, “Don’t just jump on Tsuna-nii like that!”

“Lambo, get off!” I-Pin added as she grabbed one of Lambo’s legs and tried to pull him away from Tsuna. That only made the younger boy cling tighter onto Tsuna, dangerously suffocating the young Vongola heir, all the while tears and snot fell on his messy brown locks. 

“Can’t… breathe…” Tsuna struggled to say, grabbing Lambo by the scruff of his shirt and trying to pull away from the clingy boy.

“Lambo-san isn’t scared!” Lambo repeated as he cried, clinging even tighter to Tsuna. 

Just when Tsuna thought he was going to lose consciousness, his savior swooped in with the declaration of “Bite you to death! Bite you to death!”

Lambo yelped as Hibird flew towards him, pecking him in the eye without mercy. He waved his hands to shoo the bird off, making it easier for I-Pin and Fuuta to pull him away from Tsuna. 

Tsuna took a huge gulp of air as he was finally released from Lambo’s hold while Hibird victoriously flew around them before landing on Tsuna’s shoulder. The brown-haired young man smiled at the bird on his shoulder and rubbed the bird’s chin as he whispered, “Thanks, Hibird.”

Hibird preened at the attention, “Protect little animal! Protect little animal!”

Tsuna was just so happy he was still alive that he wasn’t even embarrassed that a little bird had saved him.

“Sorry about that, Tsuna-nii.” Fuuta apologized for Lambo, trying to keep the young boy from crying as he explained, “Lambo’s still scared over the last scare we got.”

Tsuna blinked at the explanation, letting Hibird return to sitting on top of his head, as he asked, “What do you mean? Aren’t you guys trying to scare me again?”

Fuuta shook his head and explained with a smile, “Nope. This time, members from Vongola would be the one scaring all of us. They were all so excited to join us.”

Tsuna couldn’t help but sarcastically comment, “Of course they are.”

Tsuna looked around before asking, “So it’s just the three of you?”

Fuuta nodded as he explained, “We were the last one to enter. Everyone else already entered ahead of us.”

Tsuna sighed, wondering what Reborn was thinking letting three kids all by themselves. 

Then again, Reborn probably thought that Tsuna would be able to meet up with them easily. Maybe they were all meant to be one team?

He wouldn’t put it past his hellish tutor to have planned everything this far.

“Well then, come on.” Tsuna offered his hand towards Fuuta, smiling as he said, “Since we’re all here, let’s go together, okay?”

Fuuta’s face brightened into a big smile as he nodded, “Okay! Thank you, Tsuna-nii!”

Before Fuuta could grab his hand, Lambo wrapped his arms around Tsuna’s leg and ordered, “Tsuna! Piggyback ride! Piggyback ride!”

“Lambo! Don’t be spoiled!” I-Pin scolded, pulling Lambo off Tsuna’s leg.

“No! Tsuna! Piggyback ride!” Lambo screamed as he clung onto Tsuna’s leg.

The brown-haired high schooler sighed and tried to placate the scared boy as he said, “Okay, okay. I get it, Lambo.”

“I’ll give you a piggyback ride.” A deep raspy voice said just next to Tsuna, “In hell…”

All three children turned to face whoever was next to Tsuna, growing pale at whatever they saw. Lambo screamed and ran off, dragging I-Pin with him who was still holding onto him, and Fuuta shouted after him as he chased the scared boy, “Lambo, I-Pin, wait!”

Tsuna didn’t want to turn around. He seriously did not want to turn around. He should just chase after the three children and not turn around to whatever horrible scary get-up the person behind him was wearing. 

Of course, the man behind him had to chuckle sheepishly as he said, “It seems I scared the kids too much. Sorry about that, Decimo.”

Tsuna steeled himself as he turned around, biting his bottom lip so he wouldn’t let out a scream at the creepy makeup the man behind him had. His entire face looked like it had been burned horribly and he was wearing a black fedora on his head while his striped shirt was full of blood and what seemed to be ashes. 

In all honesty, Tsuna wouldn’t be surprised if the shirt the man was wearing had been an actual shirt he had worn during one of Vongola’s operations. 

“It’s okay. You were just doing your job.” Tsuna said, giving a weak smile.

“But they went the wrong way.” The man with the burned face makeup sighed before saying, “I’ll make sure they’re okay. Please go on ahead and have fun, Decimo.”

He wanted to shout that this wasn’t his idea of fun. He wanted to go home!

“Thank you.” He smiled instead, knowing that Reborn would not be happy if he should any kind of weakness to anyone but the innermost members of his Famiglia. Not to mention, a lot of the Vongola personnel he had met seemed to overreact whenever Tsuna showed any kind of weakness and they’d go out of their way to help him (usually too eager and just aggravate the situation) so it was just better for Tsuna’s health that he didn’t make any of them worry.

He waved as the man ran after the three children. Once he was out of Tsuna’s vision, Tsuna fell on his knees and took deep breaths. 

If all the other scares were as realistic as that one, Tsuna was screwed. He was so, so screwed.

He might have been able to fight off a lot of formidable foes (in his hyper dying will form) but this was different.

Oh god.

He wanted to go home already!

“Do your best! Tsunayoshi! Do your best!” Hibird chirped without leaving the top of Tsuna’s head. 

The frightened young man nodded and shakily got up, “You’re right. I have to do my best.”

He began to walk once more as he mumbled bitterly, “Or Reborn is definitely going to punish me if I chicken out.”

God, he hoped the next scare wasn’t as disturbing as the burned face of the last one.

The next scare came in while he was in the middle of the wooded part of the graveyard (who thought that would be a good idea?!) as a sudden voice right next to his ear whispered to him, “Boss?”

Tsuna turned to face his female Mist Guardian with a greeting already on the tip of his tongue, recognizing her voice but screamed out of fear instead as Chrome held her flashlight up, letting the light cast eerie shadows over her face. Tsuna backed away from her out of pure instinct, making the young woman focus the flashlight’s light on her face as she said, “It’s me, Boss. It’s me!”

“Okay! Okay! I get it! Just drop the flashlight from your face, please!” Tsuna begged, knowing he would be seeing that scary Chrome face in his dreams tonight. He let out a sigh of relief when Chrome finally dropped the flashlight from lighting her face, aiming it on the ground next to Tsuna instead. Seeing the tears forming in her eye, he patted her head as he asked, “Were you all alone, Chrome?”

Chrome shook her head and explained, “Ken and Chigusa came to visit so we went together but… I got separated from them…”

Tsuna hummed at the explanation, letting the girl calm down for a bit before he took her hand as he suggested with a smile, “Well then, let’s see if we can find them together, okay?”

Chrome’s lips curved into a small smile as she nodded, “Thank you, Boss!”

The two of them began to walk together, letting the light of Chrome’s flashlight guide their way. He was actually curious why Chrome had a flashlight then he noticed that she still had her school bag with her so maybe that was where it came from?

Speaking of which…

“Sorry I couldn’t take you with me today, Chrome.” Tsuna apologized, “The president said that he only needed my help for a bit so I didn’t think of asking you to come with me.”

That ‘a bit’ did turn into the entire day and pass dinner time but Tsuna didn’t think the president had planned it. He had been more annoyed than Tsuna over having to go through more documents even when they had finished the initial batch that he thought was the only thing needed their urgent attention. Tsuna just went along with it because he already knew the world was out to get him so he wasn’t at all surprised anymore.

“It’s alright, Boss.” Chrome replied with a soft smile, “Hayato and Takeshi kept me company until everyone arrived. We were more worried about you being alone with the president actually.”

Tsuna chuckled at his three guardians’ worry. If there was one thing that helped in developing his two closest friends’ relationship with the young mist user, it was their concern over Tsuna. He was just glad that the three of them were close friends now and Chrome was relaxed enough around them to start calling them by their first name. Seeing that the young woman was still waiting for Tsuna to say something, he explained, “Nothing happened if that’s what you guys are worried about. The president just needed my help organizing the files that needed his signature before we started our winter break tomorrow.” 

“Really?” Chrome’s one good eye narrowed a bit, almost as if she knew that Tsuna wasn’t being fully honest with her. He didn’t know if the purple-haired young woman knew him that well or he was just a bad liar but he knew that she won’t let the topic go unless he told her everything.

She might even tell Gokudera and Yamamoto about this if he kept it quiet and Gokudera would definitely blow the entire thing out of proportion. 

He sighed before admitting as he kept his gaze on the road ahead, “He did ask me out…”

“I think.” He stressed before backpedaling, “Well, actually, I’m not really sure? Maybe? I mean, I don’t know if he meant it as a date or maybe just two friends going out?”

“You should always assume that mafia trash like him has an ulterior motive, Tsunayoshi-kun.” He heard the familiar male voice of his other Mist Guardian as he felt the soft hand he had been holding change into the gloved hand of the one and only Rokudo Mukuro. 

Tsuna simply sighed and turned to face the older man as he greeted in a deadpan tone, “Hello, Mukuro. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Isn’t it such a pleasant evening? The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” Mukuro replied without missing a beat, smiling charmingly at the Vongola heir.

“It was until you took over Chrome’s body.” Tsuna said without any malice, slipping out of Mukuro’s grasp.

“My, my. Your wounds hurt me deeply, Tsunayoshi-kun.” The blue-haired man placed his hand over his heart as he dramatically said, “Have you fallen so deeply for my dear Chrome that you no longer need me?” 

Tsuna rolled his eyes before replying, “We’re close friends, you know that. If you would just stay with us here instead of possessing Chrome at times while you’re out doing god knows what, we’d be close friends too.”

Mukuro hummed but didn’t reply to Tsuna’s words and said instead, “I was only joking, of course. Everyone knows you’re still pining over a certain someone.”

Tsuna’s eyes narrowed even though his cheeks reddened as he mumbled, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Oh?” Mukuro’s tone was full of amusement and mischief as he continued, “I’m merely talking about a certain Namimori Middle School student who graduated at the same time as you. If I remember correctly, the two of you were also sent to that certain future but you did manage to talk to that person’s future self, did you not?” 

“I-I’m not pining over Hibari-san!” Tsuna denied loudly, making Mukuro raise an eyebrow. Seeing Mukuro’s mouth open, the Vongola heir interrupted him, “I mean, sure, he’s handsome and cool but he’s also a battle maniac and he’s really scary, okay? I mean, sure, he’s really, really strong and I feel like everything will be alright if he’s on our side but he’s so independent and just a ‘go-my-own-pace’ kind of person and I’m really worried about him since he hasn’t even tried to contact any of us. I mean, how hard is it to send an email, right?! I know he has my email because he used to email me back when I was working as his secretary for the silliest of things! Okay, fine, the pictures of Hibird he used to send me were cute but I don’t want to wake up at 3 in the morning because he decided to send me pictures of Hibird in such an ungodly hour! And then he would warn me that he’d bite me to death if I was late! Who does that?! And, even if he didn’t or he lost it, Kusakabe-san knows it too! I would know since Kusakabe-san seems to like to ask me if I’ve seen Hibari-san every time he disappeared to do god knows what-”

“Tsunayoshi-kun…” Mukuro snapped his fingers to get Tsuna’s attention, smirking at him as he clarified in an amused tone while the younger man tried to regain his normal breathing, “I was actually talking about Sasagawa Kyoko. Remember? The girl everyone thought you were in love with?”

Tsuna’s entire face turned bright red as he gaped at his male Mist Guardian who simply chuckled as he commented, “But it is nice to have confirmation that you’re actually pining over Hibari Kyouya. We had a bet going and I’m sure Chrome would be happy to know that she won it.”

Unable to say anything, Tsuna could only let out a high-pitched muffled scream by hiding his face as he accidentally outed himself to the worst of his guardians. Mukuro simply chuckled once more before saying in an almost gentle voice, “Don’t worry, Tsunayoshi-kun. Considering how he-”

Whatever Mukuro was about to say was drowned out by loud screaming. Tsuna lowered his hands and turned towards where the scream came from while Mukuro sighed, shaking his head as he said, “That seems to be my cue to go and fetch my two subordinates for my dear Chrome.”

Realizing that the scream was from Ken, Tsuna turned to look at his male Mist Guardian and asked, “Do you want me to help you look for them?”

“There’s no need to worry your pretty little head over such a thing like this, Tsunayoshi-kun.” Mukuro waved his concern away, continuing to smile at him like nothing was wrong as he said, “They’re my responsibility and I’m sure they’re both fine. Ken was probably just surprised by one of your Vongola mafioso.”

“If you say so…” Tsuna frowned before saying, “But I was serious, you know. You should come visit us sometime. I’m sure Chrome would be happy to be able to talk to you in person.”

Mukuro closed his eyes as he replied, “I will think about it. The idea of spending time in the presence of these mafiosi does not appeal to me at all.”

Mukuro opened his eyes and smirked as he added, “Of course, if you and my lovely Chrome decided to perhaps take a break away from all of this mafia business and maybe go on a trip, I might be persuaded to join you.”

Tsuna hummed before saying, “I’ll think about it, Mukuro. Maybe we can make it a family trip, just our Famiglia and maybe we can invite Enma-kun too…”

Mukuro sighed and shook his head as he countered, “Just you, Chrome and me.”

“Reborn and the other guardians too with Haru and Kyoko-chan.” Tsuna countered, adding an additional blow, “I’m sure Chrome would love it if she got to spend some time with Haru and Kyoko-chan too.”

“Oh? That was quite devious for someone like you, Tsunayoshi-kun.” Mukuro commented before chuckling softly. He began to walk towards where the shout came from and said, “I will think about it.”

“I’ll tell Chrome you said yes!” Tsuna shouted as Mukuro’s figure disappeared in the darkness of the graveyard. The only answer he received was Mukuro’s chuckling.

He watched Mukuro disappear into the darkness of the woods (he should not be finding his mist guardian disappearing a normal thing but he did, he unfortunately did) before following the paved road once more, hoping against hope that he didn’t get any other scares.

Who was he kidding? 

He was definitely going to get a scare, maybe two, before he caught up with anyone else.

He was just that unlucky.

“I wanna go home.” Tsuna mumbled miserably.

“The green that trails Namimori.” Hibird started to sing, flapping its wings without flying out of the comforts of Tsuna’s fluffy mess of a hair.

Tsuna chuckled softly, about to correct the small bird resting on his head that he actually meant the estate they were currently staying here in Italy, but, feeling nostalgic and having nothing better to do, he joined in instead, “Not large, not small.”

“Middling is best!” They both sang before Tsuna winced as he realized that he was slightly off-key at the end. If Hibari had heard him, he would have definitely been bitten to death for sullying their school anthem. Or, if the older man was in a good mood, he’d probably get tapped on the forehead by one of his cloud guardian’s collapsable tonfas and he’d have to endure the humiliation of sporting a big round red mark on his forehead for the entire day.

He would know, it was Hibari’s favored punishment for Tsuna whenever the younger man did something wrong or annoyed him but he was either in a good mood or didn’t feel like putting the effort to actually bite Tsuna to death. 

Tsuna chuckled and rubbed his forehead as the bout of nostalgia swept through him, remembering how some of the Disciplinary Committee members used to call it a ‘love tap’ to tease their chairman’s little secretary. (He wasn’t little, he was average height! It just so happened that almost everyone in the committee was absurdly tall! And Hibari calling him ‘little animal’ frequently definitely didn’t help!) 

“Oh! The one singing was Tsuna-san!” 

Tsuna blinked as he saw both Kyoko and Haru jogged towards him, stopping in front of him. Kyoko giggled before telling her companion, “I told you, Haru-chan. Only Tsu-kun would sing our middle school’s anthem in a place like this.”

Tsuna’s cheeks blushed at that comment, embarrassed at being heard singing.

Also, what did she mean by that?!

Did Kyoko assume that, because he had been forced to become part of the disciplinary committee, he actually enjoyed singing the school anthem like apparently every member of the committee?!

It wasn’t a requirement!

And it was mainly Hibird’s fault! The Namimori school anthem was the only thing it would sing! He would know, he and Yamamoto had tried to get the little yellow bird to sing any other song but it would not budge at all!

“We’re so glad we heard you, Tsuna-san!” Haru cheerfully said, holding onto the young man’s arm as she whimpered, “The ones scaring us here are very dangerous!”

Tsuna could only chuckle weakly at that, knowing full well how dangerous the mafiosi assigned to protect him as he stayed in Italy were. There was a reason why the training grounds in the estate they were living in need to be repaired every week.

Kyoko giggled once more and held Tsuna’s other arm, smiling sweetly at him as she added, “We were trying to find Chrome-chan but we’re a bit scared to go further.”

“That’s okay! Tsuna-san will protect us!” Haru added, smiling at the light brown-haired young woman on Tsuna’s other arm as she tilted her head, “Right?”

“Yup!” Kyoko replied with a nod and Tsuna grew uncomfortable as both young women smiled at him expectantly.

He couldn’t exactly tell them that he was pretty sure he was more scared than the two of them combined on what may be lurking in the shadows, just waiting for one of them to walk by.

It was during this time that Hibird decided to finally leave the comforts of its favorite nest and start flying on top of the three high schoolers as it chirped, “Bite you to death! Bite you to death!”

Oh, like that wasn’t ominous at all… 

Remembering an important key that Kyoko had slipped, Tsuna tried his best to give a reassuring smile (he knew he was failing, god, there was a reason why he was called ‘No-Good Tsuna’ in the first place) and asked, “Are you two looking for Chrome?”

“Yes! Have you seen her, Tsuna-san?” Haru asked, tugging on his arm slightly.

“Yeah, we were together just a bit ago.” Tsuna explained, turning his head to look back. He could still see the edge of the wooded area that he had just exited from so he suggested, “I could escort you to where I last saw her?”

Technically where he last saw Mukuro but he wasn’t going to sweat the small details. 

“That would be great, Tsuna-san!” Haru happily agreed, nodding at him.

“Thank you, Tsu-kun.” Kyoko added, smiling softly at him.

A few years ago, he would have been over the moon having Sasagawa Kyoko embracing his arm and calling him ‘Tsu-kun’. 

Now, it just brought him a sense of contentment over having such a wonderful young woman as a close friend.

As the three of them walked back to the wooded area with the two young women still holding onto his arms, Tsuna mused that his life would have been so much simpler if he had just nourished his infatuation for Kyoko and let it bloom into actual love or even nurture the budding feelings he had for Haru back then. 

Instead, he fell in love with Hibari Kyouya and his life became so much more complicated and simpler all at the same time. More complicated in the sense that he was in love with THE Hibari Kyouya and simpler because that meant there was no way in hell that his love was reciprocated so he can just pine in silence like how he had been doing ever since the day he realized that he was stupid enough to fall in love with the demon of Namimori. 

“By the way, Tsu-kun.” Kyoko’s voice halted his thoughts and he turned his head to stare at her as she asked, “We heard from Chrome-chan that you’re now the secretary of the student council president. That’s so great, Tsu-kun!”

“If Tsuna-san keeps this up, he can become the student council president before he graduates!” Haru enthusiastically commented, smiling brightly. 

“I hope not.” Tsuna couldn’t help but whine, sighing before he continued, “Just seeing the daily paperwork the president has to go through and joining him in the many meetings he attends are depressing enough. The idea of being the actual person to deal with all of that makes me want to cry.”

Both women giggled, misunderstanding Tsuna’ severe concern as him being overly dramatic for fun.

He seriously wasn’t. Not at all.

“Huh?” Kyoko tilted her head and asked as she remembered, “But didn’t you deal with the same things as Hibari-san’s secretary back in middle school?”

Tsuna hummed at that, realizing that he did deal with the same tasks (paperwork wise anyway since Hibari rarely join any meetings and left it to Kusakabe most of the time) as the secretary of the disciplinary committee’s chairman (with the added task of whatever Hibari decided to do that Tsuna would be roped in) but he didn’t-

Nope. He also complained a lot back then.

Mostly to Kusakabe after he realized that the older man wouldn’t be angry at him or report him to Hibari for complaining. They had formed a kind of solidarity over both their jobs as vice-chairman and secretary to the chairman and their unofficial job as Hibari’s ’keeper’ (not that they’ll say it in front of Hibari’s face). 

He couldn’t exactly complain to Reborn about it since he was sure that his sadistic home tutor would make it much more unbearable if he even heard just a whiff of Tsuna’s complaints. Gokudera would try and pick a fight with Hibari which would lead to Tsuna having to either stop his overly zealous right-hand man before he actually went up to the older man and possibly get himself severely injured or do damage control and hope that Hibari wouldn’t see him as an accomplice. He also complained a bit to Yamamoto but it was hard to complain to the easy-going baseball player since where Yamamoto was, more often than not, Gokudera was there too. Ryohei had already graduated Namimori and interning with Cornello and Lal so it wasn’t like Tsuna could complain to him. He didn’t want to worry Kyoko about his complaints since they were usually violent in nature (surprisingly not for him but for the general crowding populace of Namimori Middle School and, not surprisingly, the entire city of Namimori. He seriously believed that Hibari was actually the ruler of their city and the mayor was just some kind of figurehead or lackey. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen in Namimori).

“That’s true…” Tsuna admitted absentmindedly, “The paperwork was the worst.”

And that was saying much considering the many great mini misadventures he had to suffer through while following Hibari as he did his job as the chairman of the disciplinary committee. It had been quite common to see the two of them leave to go do whatever Hibari felt like doing that Kyoko’s best friend, Kurokawa Hana, had started to ask if he was going on a date with Hibari whenever he was called out of class by one of the disciplinary committee members to meet Hibari somewhere (usually the gate entrance if they were actually leaving school grounds). 

Even Yamamoto had started to use it as a joke to rile Gokudera up. 

Tsuna would have loved it if they were ditching school to actually go on a date. It would have been awkward as hell and he’d definitely make a fool of himself but, at the very least, he wouldn't have had the displeasure of having a front-row seat in watching Hibari bring discipline and order in Namimori. Sometimes, there was even audience participation because Hibari was a sadistic boss who found joy in seeing Tsuna get in the middle of a fight.

Why did he fall in love with him again?

“Oh, I know!” Kyoko’s smile was sweet and bright as she suggested, “Why don’t you just become the chairman of the disciplinary committee in your school instead?”

“Huh?” Tsuna blinked at the suggestion, actually baffled why in the world he would want to become the chairman of the disciplinary committee. He chuckled and shook his head as he reminded the smiling young woman, “Kyoko-chan, that’s impossible. Can you just imagine me trying to instill fear and respect to an entire school like Hibari-san so they’ll behave?”

… Although, Gokudera would probably be able to do that for him… and Chrome did have a mean streak underneath her usual sweet quiet self… not that he was seriously thinking about Kyoko’s suggestion!

“You don’t have to instill fear to get them to behave, Tsuna-san!” Haru energetically commented, “With Tsuna-san’s cuteness and kindness, they’ll behave once they see your cool and sweet side!”

He couldn’t help but mumble, “I don’t think cool and sweet mix, Haru.”

He stopped when he recognized the trees and pointed at them as he said, “That’s where Chrome went to look for Ken and Chigusa.”

Or, at least, where Mukuro went while possessing Chrome’s body…

Again, small details that Tsuna was willingly overlooking for the sake of his mental health.

“Thanks, Tsu-kun!” Kyoko let go of his arm and took a few steps forward. 

“We’ll look for her ourselves from here!” Haru added, letting go of his arm as well and joining Kyoko. 

Tsuna frowned as he watched the two young women held hands and asked worriedly, “You sure? We can all look together?”

“It’s okay, Tsu-kun.” Kyoko shook her and smiled at him, “We’ll be fine by ourselves.”

“Plus, it’s not fair that you spend the night helping us instead of having fun!” Haru added with a pout.

Tsuna desperately wanted to tell them that getting scared was not his idea of fun.

It never was! 

“That’s right. Everyone is looking forward to scaring Tsu-kun!” Kyoko added with a smile, “They’re all so nice and they really like you, Tsu-kun.”

And that was the problem.

No matter how scared Tsuna was, he knew that everyone participating in this game was doing it because Reborn had managed to convince them that he actually liked being scared. 

He didn’t want to disappoint any of them.

With a small smile, he nodded and said, “Yeah, you’re right. I should get going.”

“See you later, Tsu-kun.” Kyoko waved at him as she walked towards the woods where Mukuro had disappeared to. Tsuna nodded as he returned the wave.

“Hope you get a good scare, Tsuna-san!” Haru added as she waved as well, following Kyoko into the darkness.

Tsuna’s wave turned slower at the reminder, finally dropping his hand when he could no longer see the two. Hibird flew back to his hair, perching like it was the most natural thing to do and chirped, “Get going! Get going!”

Tsuna sighed and replied, “Okay, okay. I’m going, I’m going.”

Just a few feet from where he had met with Kyoko and Haru, Tsuna screamed and ran away from a crawling woman with wet black hair and dirty white dress that suddenly appeared from one of the open graves.

He seriously hoped that it was an illusion and not an actual member of Vongola who decided that waiting on an open grave was actually a nice idea.

His scream echoed all over the huge graveyard and his feet carried him to whatever horror waited for him next, wishing that the paved road he had been following finally ends together with this nightmare of a game.

It only got worse from there as it seemed that his scream had pinpointed his location to all the other participants and they started to pop out as Tsuna passed them, making him scream at each of them as they brandished their fake bloodied instruments of torture and death (or he seriously hope they were all fake) and some even tried to chase after him.

As he passed two large gravestones, he felt someone grab him and he flailed with his eyes closed, screaming as he tried to pull away from the hand. 

There should be a rule that says no touching!

“Woah, woah, Tsuna! It’s us!” 

Recognizing the voice of his Rain Guardian, Tsuna finally stopped flailing around and opened his eyes. Tears of relief fell from his big honey-colored eyes as he saw both his Rain Guardian and his Storm Guardian in front of him. Yamamoto had been the one to grab him but Gokudera was immediately by his side, placing a comforting hand on Tsuna’s back as he asked worriedly, “Tenth? Are you alright? Did any of those assholes do anything to you?! Just tell me which one and I’ll blow them up for you!”

“Now, now, Gokudera.” Yamamoto tried to placate the ever over-protective Storm Guardian, “Let’s not get too hot-headed until we hear the whole story, okay?”

Before Gokudera could shout at his fellow guardian for his carefreeness, Tsuna sniffed before he fell on his best friends’ arms as he whined pathetically, “Yamamoto!! Gokudera-kun!!”

“Woah!” Yamamoto took a few steps back, surprised by the sudden physical contact but managed to keep all three of them balanced as Gokudera was swept up by their boss’ emotions and shouted back as he hugged the smaller young man tightly, “Tenth!” 

Hibird flew off Tsuna’s head once more and began circling the trio, chirping, “No crowding! No crowding!”

The tallest of the three chuckled and patted his frightened boss’ back as he cheerfully said, “There, there, Tsuna. It’s okay. We’re here now.”

Tsuna should be embarrassed and a bit angry at being treated like a kid but he was tired, his throat hurt from all the screaming and his legs were aching from all the running he had to do. He just clung onto both his carefree Rain Guardian and his protective Storm Guardian as he whined, “I wanna go home!”

Yamamoto chuckled once more, rubbing Tsuna’s back soothingly as he replied, “We’re almost there, Tsuna! The exit is only a few meters away.”

Did he say meters?!

“Please do not worry, Tenth!” Gokudera grinned as he exclaimed, “Now that I’m here, I’ll make sure no one manages to come even near you!”

“But that would extremely defeat the purpose of this game!” Tsuna turned to the sound of his Sun Guardian, finally seeing him behind both Yamamoto and Gokudera. 

“Onii-chan!” Tsuna called out, taking a step away from both his closest guardians to properly face the white-haired young man.

“Yo, Sawada!” Ryohei greeted, ruffling Tsuna’s messy hair as he said, “It’s just like Yamamoto said. It’s just a few more meters until the finish line! You can do this!”

“God damn it, you lawn head!” Gokudera smacked Ryohei’s hand away from Tsuna’s head and stepped between his boss and his fellow Guardian as he said, “If the boss said he has enough then he has enough!”

“That won’t do!” Ryohei retorted, crossing his arms as he explained, “Going beyond our extreme is what we should all strive for!”

“You do that but don’t drag Tenth into your extreme lifestyle, Lawn head!” Gokudera growled.

“Come on, guys, let’s not do this now.” Tsuna tried to defuse the situation, not believing that even though years may have passed, Gokudera and Ryohei still found ways to argue with one another. He couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face as the sense of nostalgia was washed away by the sense of comfort he felt knowing that his guardians were still the same as always. 

Yamamoto watched his boss silently for a few seconds with a soft smile, relieved that the antics of his fellow guardians had helped calm him down. With a grin, he placed his arm around Tsuna’s shoulder and suggested, “Come on, Tsuna. Let’s leave these two to do their usual routine and get a move on.”

“Hiiii!” Tsuna exclaimed as Yamamoto started dragging him away from the arguing two guardians.

“Oi, Baseball freak!” Gokudera turned to glare at the grinning guardian as he followed after his boss and the cheerful Rain Guardian, “Don’t you dare leave with the Tenth without me!”

“That’s extremely not cool, Yamamoto!” Ryohei added as he joined them.

Tsuna couldn’t help but laugh as Gokudera began to shout at Yamamoto before being dragged into another argument with Ryohei, letting Yamamoto play referee. 

It wasn’t really any different from how his daily life here in Italy was, just that Gokudera would be having a one-sided argument with Yamamoto while Tsuna and Chrome would alternate between watching the two and trying to rein in the Storm Guardian’s temper. 

But, right at this moment, the sound of Ryohei and Gokudera’s argument and the weight of Yamamoto’s arm on his shoulder brought him comfort. 

Just when Tsuna was feeling calm and finally relaxed enough, two people with zombie makeup jumped out of the shadows, making Tsuna scream and hug Yamamoto’s arm tightly.

The sound of their boss’ frightened scream immediately got all of his three guardians on alert with Yamamoto pulling Tsuna close to him as he pulled the shorter young man behind him while Gokudera and Ryohei immediately went and engaged with the two threats.

Sparks of Sun, Lightning and Storm flames flew all around them as the two zombies blocked the guardians’ attack.

“Ushishishi.” The creepy laugh was so distinct that Tsuna forgot all about his fear for a moment as he recognized that underneath the zombie makeup were two of Varia’s strongest members, Belphegor and Leviathan. Bel’s face erupted into a huge grin, making his zombie makeup even creepier, as he commented, “Now, that’s no way to treat royalty.”

“You assholes dare scare Tenth!” Gokudera growled, taking a step back as he readied his Vongola gear once more, “As Tenth’s right-hand man, I cannot let that slide!”

Both Varia members readied their own weapons as Leviathan said seriously, “We cannot fail on our mission as well. We will make Sawada Tsunayoshi faint, no matter what!”

Wait. What?!

“Now this is an extreme situation I can’t pass up!” Ryohei commented as well, already ready to take the front and support his fellow Guardian, “I haven’t had a good warm up in a while!”

“You dare imply that a prince like me is only a warm-up opponent? Oh, now I will skewer and slice you up good. Ushishishishi.”

“Wait. Guys-” 

“Just die already!” Gokudera’s scream rendered whatever Tsuna wanted to say moot as the four clashed, sparks of different dying will flames scattering around them. 

Next to him, Yamamoto chuckled and commented casually, “It’s nice to see the Varia is as energetic as ever.” 

Tsuna could only chuckle weakly, feeling so tired as he watched the four. He couldn’t help but admire the teamwork between Gokudera and Ryohei though. It was a bit rough as Ryohei rarely visited them but the complete trust between his guardians definitely made it easier for the two to silently coordinate their attacks. As he watched the impressive battle in front of him without any hint of concern (and the implication of that was not a good thing in Tsuna’s opinion, this was his life now, he really wished he could cry), he mumbled, “Why would they want to make me faint?”

He had a feeling Reborn was to blame.

He felt Yamamoto pat his back gently and turned to face his Rain Guardian. The taller young man grinned as he explained, “I guess no one told you, huh? The kid announced that the person to scare you so hard that you faint will get a reward so lots of people near here came to join the game. You know, something similar to the reward we could have gotten during Mother’s Day?”

He wanted to shout ‘I knew it!’ but guessing Reborn as the cause of his misfortune was already a given anyway. It would have been much more surprising if it hadn’t been Reborn.

At the mention of ‘a reward’, the next boss of Vongola sighed tiredly. As much as Tsuna didn’t want to remember, he did remember that day (he still felt the pain in his body over having to contort in such a manner for Gokudera’s ‘magic’ trick) and he knew the reward Yamamoto was talking about. If it was that ‘legendary’ reward that even Dino coveted, he was screwed.

So freaking screwed…

God damn it, Reborn!

Tsuna flinched when one of the bigger gravestones was toppled over by a stray beam of pure Storm flame. 

Yamamoto sighed and shook his head as he said with an apologetic smile, “Sorry, Tsuna. You should go on ahead without us. I’ll try to get all of them to stop before they destroy more stuff.”

“I could help-” Tsuna started but the taller young man shook his head.

“Nah, it’s okay.” Yamamoto grinned as he patted Tsuna’s back, “Think of it this way, the faster you get to the goal, the earlier this ends and we can all go eat dinner.”

They haven’t eaten dinner yet?! 

What was Reborn thinking?!

Even Tsuna had a small bread with the president when they realized it was already dinner time. 

Tsuna nodded, realizing that this had been Reborn’s plan from the very beginning. By making him realize that his Famiglia would be starving by now, Tsuna would have the motivation to actually finish this god damn game instead of drag it out in hopes that someone would join him in clearing the entire thing.

He wouldn’t even put it pass the sly tutor to anticipate a fight between Varia and his guardians to further ensure Tsuna stayed isolated. Just the fact that he teamed up Gokudera and Ryohei together was an indication that Reborn had been planning something from the very beginning. 

Tsuna turned to face Yamamoto as he nodded, “I’ll leave them to you, Yamamoto.”

“You got it, boss.” Yamamoto replied cheekily, winking as he added, “This is a part of my job as your right-hand man.”

“You bastard, I’m the Tenth’s right-hand man!” They both heard Gokudera shout while dodging Bel’s attack and the two chuckled. 

“Then, I’m off!” Tsuna said as he ran away from them.

“Yeah!” Yamamoto waved as he shouted, “You can do this, Tsuna!”

Like clockwork, the other two of his guardians shouted as well as he ran away even as they kept their attention against their opponents.

“I’ll catch up to you soon, Tenth!”

“Run to the extreme, Sawada!”

Once Tsuna was out of his sight, Yamamoto let the Rain flames engulf the necklace around his neck, smiling at the four engaged in combat as he said in a cheerful tone belying the seriousness in his eyes, “Now then, I guess I should get a bit serious for our boss’ sake.”

Tsuna heard an explosion from behind him but didn’t look back, continuing to run as he followed the paved path. Hibird flew next to him and Tsuna could feel the little bird judging him. He frowned as he defended himself, “Running isn’t cheating, okay?! This is called strategy!”

Hibird flew around him with grace as it chirped, “No-Good Tsuna! No-Good Tsuna!”

“This is the best- Hiiiii!” Tsuna screamed as someone jumped out of the angel statue to his right, running faster than he had ever run. His physical education teacher would be proud. (No, he wouldn’t)

“Don’t pay attention. Don’t pay attention. Don’t pay attention.” Tsuna continued to repeat the mantra underneath his breath, dodging all the incoming scares while trying his best not to look at any of them.

Was that Basil in a Japanese ghost costume?

Nope. That can’t be. He should be with the rest of the CEDEF members, keeping things afloat while his parents went on their world trip.

Did he just hear Squalo’s distinct shout and a flash of bloody swords?

No, of course not. No way. 

That was the wind.

THE WIND.

… There was no way that was Xanxus holding a decapitated head, right?!

Of course not.

The great boss of Varia would never stoop as low as join Reborn’s schemes.

… Did he just pass Enma?

No way.

There was no way that was Enma.

He wasn’t even a member of Vongola!

……………. Unless he was bullied into joining this nightmare.

Yeah. Tsuna could totally see Enma being bullied into joining…

He made a note to himself to check on the poor Simon Decimo later after all this mess was finished. 

Tsuna’s face brightened as he finally saw the gate that will end his nightmare. In his joy, he cheerfully said to his bird companion, “Look, Hibird! The exit! Oh, thank god!”

His steps faltered when he didn’t hear any chirping. Tsuna stopped and turned around as he called out, “Hibird?”

He blinked as he only saw the desolate darkness of the graveyard he had just passed. 

“Hibird?” He called out once again, taking a step forward, “Hibird!”

Fear started to slowly fill his mind. Hibird never left his side. Not since Hibari had given the small yellow bird to him. Sure, it would fly off time and time again but it never flew far away from him. Even during class, the small yellow bird would perch on one of the trees just outside his classroom. Hibird was even allowed inside the school because everyone didn’t really want to get into Vongola’s bad side and it liked to stay on Tsuna’s hair or shoulder most of the time. If it wasn’t with Tsuna, the future mafia boss knew that it would come flying towards him if it hears Tsuna calling it as the little bird never flew far away from, almost as if it had been ordered to stay close at all times.

But that was just Tsuna’s wishful thinking brought by his feelings for the fluffy bird’s real owner. 

“Hibird!” He shouted once more, fearing something may have happened to the small bird. The fear of being ambushed by any mafioso wanting to scare him no longer registered to him as he started to run back the way he came from, calling out to his bird companion, “Hibird!”

That was when he heard a faint sound coming from his right. He turned his head and noticed that there was a mausoleum with a slightly open door (open enough for a small bird to fit in) just to his right. He gulped and called out once more, “Hibird!”

He clearly heard a faint sound coming from inside the mausoleum itself, almost like it was reacting to his voice. He cautiously walked towards the mausoleum and called out once more, “Hibird?!”

He heard the same sound once more as if it had been answering his call. Fearing that maybe his bird companion was injured or stuck, Tsuna went inside the mausoleum with a shout “Hibir-!”

And immediately fell on a hole as he screamed, “Hiiiiiiiiii!!!”

“Ow!” Tsuna exclaimed as he hit the ground with a loud thud, groaning at the misfortune of hitting his chin on the rocky surface below him. He sat up, looking at his slightly torn uniform with a tired resigned sigh. His chin was definitely scratched but it wasn’t bleeding so that was nice. He could feel the familiar aching all over his chest which only meant that his chest will be full of bruises tomorrow. He looked at his hands and sighed once more as he noticed that both of his palms were full of small scratches and dirt. He'll have to ask someone to help him disinfect his newly acquired injuries. Hopefully, he could ask Yamamoto to help him. He was sure Gokudera would be dramatic over this and beg to be forgiven for not being there to save him. Chrome would be nice too but Mukuro had a habit of knowing the best time to annoy Tsuna and having to suffer through listening to his male Mist Guardian tease and berate him in his usual nice tone while helping him clean and wrap his newly acquired inquires wasn't really Tsuna's idea of a good time. 

“Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!” Tsuna's face brightened as he saw the small bird flying towards him from the darkness that surrounded him. Tsuna reached out his left hand towards the flying avian and smile brightly as it landed on his palm, chirping as it hopped closer to him, “Okay? Okay?” 

“Hibird! Where did you go?! I was so worried about you!” Tsuna exclaimed, carefully petting the bird as he tried to check if it was hurt at all.

“Considering your current condition, you should have been more worried about yourself.” 

Tsuna froze as he recognized the cool almost disdain familiar tone of his Cloud Guardian. His eyes widened as he turned his head toward the sound of soft footsteps coming closer to him and he called out to the darkness, “Hibari-san?!”

The only light in the darkness came from the moonlight as it cast its soft light towards the hole Tsuna had fallen through. In the darkness, he could only see a hand reaching out to him and grabbing him by the arm, hauling him up as the same voice noted with a tired sigh, “Only you would fall into such an obvious hole and receive that much damage from such a small fall.”

Tsuna blushed in embarrassment as he mumbled, “There’s a lot of small rocks.”

“Land on your feet next time.” Came the deadpan retort before Tsuna heard another sigh, “Come on. The exit is this way.”

Tsuna felt him drop his arm and could hear the footsteps walking away in the darkness but Tsuna couldn’t see anything so he called out as he tried to follow the sound, “Wait, Hibari-san! I ca-Hiii!”

Of course, because he was still No-Good Tsuna, he tripped on something and began to fall. He closed his eyes as he waited to greet the rocky ground once more but his breath hitched when someone caught him. He blushed when he realized there was only one person who could have caught him and mumbled, “Tha-thanks, Hibari-san.”

His blush deepened as he managed to catch the other man’s scent as he continued to breathe heavily against his chest, the familiar scent of steel, blood and green tea invading his nose. Tsuna was only mildly embarrassed that he actually recognized what the older man smelled like but it was hard not to after the uncountable instances he had been close enough to actually catch the Cloud Guardian’s scent. He also knew for a fact the blood he would smell was never the battle maniac’s own. More often than not, it came from one of his prey or a bit of dried blood on his clothes that have not been washed off (most probably the gakuran he usually wore on his shoulders. He knew from Kusakabe that Hibari rarely let the vice-chairman take the gakuran so he could wash it because Hibari would always forget to do it himself. To be honest, Tsuna was more surprised that Hibari washed his own clothes more than the fact that Kusakabe sometimes did it for him.)

“Still as clumsy as always, I see.” There was a hint of amusement in his tone as he pushed Tsuna off slowly, letting the shorter young man regain his balance.

“It’s not my fault this time.” Tsuna explained, emphasizing on his last two words since he knew for a fact that he was still unfortunately clumsy more often than not, “It’s too dark! I can’t see where I’m going.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder before being pulled towards the side of the other young man as he heard a sigh, “Fine, this should work.”

No. No, it would not work!

Tsuna’s heart will give out if he continued to stay this close to him!

Oh god.

With the way his heart was beating so fast, he could definitely hear it!

“I-I-I-” Words were now a foreign entity to Tsuna as his feet moved on its own, following the steps of the man pressed against him. He barely felt Hibird fly out of his palm and into the darkness ahead of them. 

“Watch your step.” The man next to him warned, making Tsuna wince when his shoes landed on something that was definitely not rocks.

“Hibari-san…” Tsuna didn’t want to ask but he had to. With a soft voice, he asked, “Did I just step on bones?”

“Probably.” came the aloof reply as Tsuna was guided further into the darkness. Tsuna could only groan as they continued to step on something that made a crunching sound. 

“Why are there bones on the floor?” Tsuna whimpered, grabbing onto the shirt of the man next to him. 

“This crypt has been long forgotten by Vongola.” His male companion explained as he continued to guide Tsuna.

How he knew where to go without even some kind of light source was a mystery that Tsuna just chalked up as another amazing feat of the great Hibari Kyouya.

“There was an earthquake a few years ago that damaged the crypt but no one remembered about the crypt so they didn’t check.” The older man continued, unusually talkative for once (Tsuna wondered if hell was currently having a snowstorm) before warning, “There’s a collapsed pillar ahead of us we have to jump through.”

“Oh, that does- Hiiiiii!” Tsuna’s hands flailed for a moment before he desperately grabbed onto the man’s neck who suddenly decided to princess carry him before jumping to what Tsuna assumed was the collapsed pillar that he was warned about. Tsuna held tightly as he felt the man carrying him continue to jump around, going higher and higher. He could feel the warmth emanating from the older young man and could feel his chest move as he inhaled and exhaled. With just a smidge of embarrassment, Tsuna pressed his face against the skin between his neck and shoulder, feeling wisps of his hair tickle Tsuna’s cheek. 

His hair was growing longer, it seemed.

Tsuna briefly wondered when he would cut it the same hairstyle that future Hibari had. 

Just as he saw the light coming from a hole a few feet away from them, he was dropped without warning. He would have fallen on his ass had he not been clinging tightly on the man who actually just decided to drop him. Instead, he was able to regain his balance while clinging onto the older man. He heard a sharp intake of breath as he accidentally grinded against him and Tsuna’s entire face turned red as he immediately let go, shouting with fake enthusiasm as he ran away, “The exit! Yes!” 

Tsuna happily ran out of the darkness and into what seemed to be the back of the mausoleum with the crypt underneath, covered by overgrown trees and vines. He took a deep breath, trying to rein in both the embarrassment and the panic over what just happened. 

Oh god. He was going to be bitten to death.

This was worse than that one time he had straddled the battle maniac during one of their lunch spars. At least that one he had the excuse of trying not to die from the overly enthusiastic bloodthirsty Cloud Guardian. 

But if he was going to be bitten to death anyway, might as well finally confess, right?

He had nothing to lose anymore!

When he heard footsteps coming closer to him, Tsuna gulped and said without turning around, fearing he would be unable to actually let the words out if he did see Hibari’s face as he spoke, “Hibari-san… the truth is…”

The footsteps stopped and Tsuna almost faltered, his entire face red and his ears felt hot for some reason. Nevertheless, he continued just as Hibird perched on his shoulder as if silently encouraging him, “I’ve been in love with you since middle-school!”

Oh god.

He said it.

Reborn would be so proud (and then tease him mercilessly while berating him for being a year too slow).

Tsuna took another deep breath and turned around as he continued, “I know you don’t-”

Whatever words Tsuna meant to say turned into a small ‘eep’ sound as he stared at the man in front of him.

Instead of the (maybe) mixed Asian features of the dark-haired Hibari Kyouya, the obviously European features of the platinum blond-haired Alaude, the Cloud Guardian of Vongola Primo, was standing in front of him. 

Tsuna freaking out was an understatement because:

  1. He just confessed to the wrong person 
  2. Said wrong person was the Cloud Guardian of Vongola Primo
  3. Said wrong person was also supposed to be dead



At the reminder of the third point, Tsuna’s freak out turned into the slightly more hysterical ‘oh god, he's seeing an actual ghost. An actual freaking ghost and not some kind of spiritual guide from their Vongola rings!’

Oh god.

Can he faint now?

Was it okay to faint now?

If he fainted now, would the actual ghost of Primo’s Cloud Guardian count as the winner of this god damn cursed winter test of courage? 

Before he could actually faint or (more probably) run away screaming, he froze at the sound of a soft small sigh coming from the older man in front of him. Tsuna could only watch as Alaude patted his head while the first Cloud Guardian said, “Relax, Decimo. I’m not going to hurt you.”

That didn’t stop the red flush permanently stuck on his face, embarrassed beyond belief about what just happened. This was actually worse than confessing to Kyoko back then even when that was in his boxers and under the influence of the Deathperation shot. 

He became curious when Alaude’s lips curved into a small almost unnoticeable smile as he mused, “If only Giotto was as adorable as you.”

Tsuna… Tsuna seriously did not want to think about the implication of those words. He had enough of Reborn and many members of Vongola calling him and his guardians the second coming of Primo and the first guardians. He didn’t want to know something that might add fuel to the theory that they were some kind of ‘reincarnation’ or something.

As if answering his silent wish, he heard Gokudera shouting at the direction where Tsuna knew he came from, “Tenth?! Are you here, Tenth!?”

“Woah! Be careful, Gokudera!” He heard Yamamoto next and there was some kind of sound of what Tsuna assumed Yamamoto grabbing Gokudera as he reminded his fellow guardian, “That’s a huge hole there. You might fall.”

“Could Sawada have fallen through that extreme hole?!” Ryohei’s concerned voice boomed out.

“No! Tenth!!!” Gokudera shouted worriedly, most probably at the hole in question, “Tenth!!! Can you hear me!?”

Alaude sighed tiredly and shook his head before telling Tsuna, “You should go before those three children do something stupid.” 

Knowing logic usually left Gokudera’s usually rational mind if he believed Tsuna was in danger and his other two guardians were more of an act-first-think-later type, Tsuna nodded and began to run towards the front of the mausoleum but stopped to face the aloof European man once more as he asked, “Are you haunting the crypt, Alaude-san?”

Alaude raised one eyebrow at the question and asked back, “Why the interest, Decimo?”

Tsuna’s eyes lowered as he blushed lightly while replying, “Um, well, if you are… I would like to visit you if that’s okay? I mean, it must be lonely… here…”

What was he saying?!

He didn’t even know the platinum blond-haired man that well!

After the Arcobaleno's curse had been lifted, they realized that the spirits of Primo and his guardians could be summoned using their flames after Lambo accidentally summoned Lampo while he was playing alone one day (Tsuna wasn’t really sure how that happened but he was still in the middle of the crying bratty argument between the two Lightning Guardians when Giotto appeared out of his own to rein in Lampo). Sometimes, they could even come out of their own free will like what Giotto had done but it seemed that their memories only go as far as the last time they wore the rings with the exception of Alaude who had fragmented memories of the time he had the half-rings during Secondo's reign (not that the elusive Cloud Guardian liked to talk about it anyway). Because of this, Tsuna would sometimes talk to Giotto, sure, and sometimes G and Asari too if Gokudera and Yamamoto were with him but not Alaude. He had only talked to him a few times when the older man would decide to materialize out of the blue without Hibari’s permission and it was only for a few moments before Hibari would get annoyed and order him to return to his Vongola gear which Alaude would immediately say no to and would lead to a long staring contest between the two prideful Cloud Guardian which Tsuna would ignore anyway and continue his Disciplinary Committee work (or drink tea, maybe play with the many Hibirds who like to stay in the reception room, sometimes even leave the room and talk to Kusakabe because watching those two just makes Tsuna's mind wander and that was never a good sign for Tsuna's questionable mental health).

Right now, his embarrassing words seemed to have surprised Giotto’s Cloud Guardian as Alaude simply stared at him silently for a few seconds before his lips curved into a more noticeable small smile. Alaude walked towards him and patted his head once more before gently caressing Tsuna’s cheek as he said, “There’s no need to worry, Decimo. I am not haunting this place. This is merely…”

Alaude’s lips curved into an amused smirk as he continued, “... a one-time thing.”

“That’s good.” Tsuna said as a relieved smile graced his lips.

“Hm?” The Cloud Guardian hummed as he tilted his head slightly.

“I’m just glad Alaude-san’s not haunting such a lonely place.” Tsuna explained, unable to stop himself from leaning onto Alaude’s hand. He was surprisingly warm for a ghost and that confused Tsuna but he didn’t really mind.

He knew Alaude wouldn’t hurt him and he was surprisingly gentle.

“Gokudera! Wait! Don’t jump!” They both heard Yamamoto shout before Gokudera started to scream “Tenth!!! Please wait!!! I’ll save you!!!”

“You need to extremely calm down, Octopus head!!!” Ryohei shouted at the same volume as Gokudera’s wails and Tsuna could hear the two guardians trying to keep their friend from actually jumping into the hole. 

“Your kindness is wasted on the dead, Decimo.” Alaude dropped his hand and took a step back, “Go and rein in your foolish companions before they hurt themselves.”

Tsuna couldn’t help but let out an embarrassed chuckle as he said, “Yeah, I better go. Thank you for helping me, Alaude-san!”

Alaude watched as the future tenth boss of Vongola ran as fast as he could towards the entrance of the mausoleum, shouting at his overly eager friend, “Gokudera-kun! Don’t jump! I’m right here!!!”

As soon as he heard the sounds of Tsuna’s voice trying to calm down a crying Gokudera, accompanied by the worried voices of Yamamoto and Ryohei, Alaude turned to glare at the dark hole as he said, “I do not like being used like this, Hibari Kyouya.”

From the darkness of the hole, Hibari stepped out and glared at Alaude silently. Primo’s Cloud Guardian sighed and shook his head as he mused, “Summoning me to take your place and running back to that hole like a coward when you realized that Decimo was trying to confess to you again… you are both an amusing and pitiful boy. Watching you guide Decimo from that crypt and carry him to safety was truly a sight to behold, I can attest to that, but then you had to ruin it by hiding like the coward you are.”

“Shut up.” Hibari mumbled, unable to hide the reddening of his cheeks as he kept his gaze away from the judging stare of the french Cloud Guardian.

“It was bad enough that you stopped him the first time by giving him one of your pet birds.” Alaude continued, uncharacteristically talkative for once, mainly to let out his annoyance with his successor and also to deliberately annoy the dark-haired guardian, “I am having a headache just remembering your reasoning for such stupidity. Just let Decimo confess to you already-” 

“I’m going to be the one to confess first.” Hibari growled, glaring at the older man, “Once I’m of equal footing as Tsunayoshi… once my Foundation is as powerful and strong as Vongola, I’ll tell him how I feel about him.” 

“Such stupidity.” Alaude commented with a shake of his head.

“You have no right to say that to me.” Hibari hissed at the disapproving Cloud Guardian, “You did the same with CEDEF.”

“I created CEDEF to keep Vongola in check.” Alaude retorted, glaring at the current Cloud Guardian, “Not as some kind of show of my feelings for Giotto.”

Alaude’s eye twitched as he saw the look on Hibari’s face, silently telling him that he knew that the platinum blond-haired guardian was lying and he wasn’t buying it. Alaude sighed and shook his head as he slowly disappeared, staring at Hibari as he warned, “If you are set in continuing this ridiculous plan, you should hurry or someone might steal Decimo from you.”

Alaude closed his eyes as he continued, “He won’t wait for you forever.”

Hibari watched as Alaude disappeared, returning to his Vongola gear once more. Hibari’s grip on the two rings he had taken from the crypt tighten as he mumbled to the space where Alaude had been standing, “I know that.”

Hibari turned his head to the sound of Tsuna’s laughter coming from the other side of the mausoleum. He turned away, walking away from his sky and fellow guardians as he mumbled, “I won’t make the same mistake you did.” 

  
  


Tsuna’s entire body was aching and he was breathing heavily. He just knew that trying to hide the many new marks his Cloud Guardian had left all over his face and body was going to be troublesome. His only consolation was said Cloud Guardian was going to have the same problem this time. He was definitely sure that he managed to hit him good with his left elbow this time. 

Ten years may have passed since Tsuna’s entire life was turned upside down because of the appearance of the greatest hitman but, if there was one thing that still remained the same, it was the fact that Hibari was still the same battle maniac as he was when they were in middle school. More calculating and less brash perhaps due to the experiences he had gotten as he got older but that only served to make his bloodlust all the more dangerous in Tsuna's opinion. 

He turned his head to stare at Hibari as he remained lying next to Tsuna on the floor of the training room they had almost destroyed with their latest ‘sparring’ match, unable to hide the goofy grin on his face as he saw the equally battered and bruised face of his Cloud Guardian. 

This.

This would be the first time that he and Hibari actually finished the match with a draw instead of Tsuna surrendering, not because he was losing but because he was hungry and they had already missed dinner.

This time, they managed to get a draw even before dinner!

Tsuna was counting this as a win!

Now, if only someone would be kind enough to check if they were still alive because he can’t move a single inch and he would like to think Hibari was the same considering he was still lying next to him, breathing just as heavily. 

But he knew for a fact that no one would dare try to disturb them as this was their yearly tradition by now. 

Everyone in Vongola Italy headquarters knew the tradition of Neo Vongola Primo and his Cloud Guardian of sparring so seriously that it had become a requirement to not bother them unless it was an emergency or they wanted to get caught up by the animalistic savagery between the two combatants. 

Tsuna couldn’t help it. Hibari fought like a beast that hadn’t been fed in years, his killing intent pure and unrestricted. If Tsuna didn’t want to die, he needed to fight Hibari like he wanted to kill him. Anything less would simply anger the bloodthirsty older man and that meant his quick-tempered guardian would not listen to him when Tsuna does ask that they stop.

It was simply part of their yearly tradition by now. A yearly tradition that Hibari greedily held on tightly, bringing down wrath to all who dare stand between him and this specific day. A date that most people don’t even understand the meaning because it always seemed like a random day each year. Even Tsuna wouldn’t have realized the meaning of the date had Yamamoto not commented during one of the years when he had been in Vongola Italy headquarters and saw Hibari walking towards them with that manic look in his eyes that sent shivers down Tsuna’s spine in his usual carefree tone, “Man, your Hikoboshi never misses the day, does he?” 

Tsuna had long discarded the idea that it was simply a coincidence. If even Yamamoto realized the actual dates Hibari chose each year for their yearly sparring match then there was no way it was a coincidence. 

By this time in his life, Tsuna had simply started to roll with whatever weird things will be thrown at him. Hibari choosing this specific event each day as the day they would spend the day together (mostly to spar)? He might still love the aloof guardian but he also knew Hibari was strange and him picking this specific event didn’t mean he felt the same way as Tsuna.

He didn’t know how Hibari felt about him but he did know that the older man held onto this day tightly and any who dared get in the way would pay. 

The glorious (by Varia standard no less) bloodshed that Hibari had single-handedly created when Tsuna was ‘forcibly detained’ by a hostile Famiglia in southern Spain two years ago was still being talked to by both allied and enemy Famiglias of Vongola as both a warning of New Vongola Primo’s Cloud Guardian’s strength and temperament. The common consensus was to keep Tsuna’s schedule as free as possible during the month that they knew Hibari would be coming for his yearly sparring match with the New Vongola Primo. Gokudera was annoyed as he tried to keep it as open as possible, mumbling how privilege that bastard was without even knowing it but doing his best nonetheless because he didn’t want a repeat of the incident of three years ago when Hibari decided he had waited long enough and crashed the meeting Tsuna had with the don of a powerful northern Italy Famiglia. Gokudera spent months trying to keep the peace between their two Famiglias, trying to make them understand that Vongola wasn’t going to sic that scary beast on them and they wanted to be allies, not take over. An alliance was created but everyone knew it had more to do with how frightened the don had been of the Cloud Guardian than by any charm Neo Vongola Primo had. 

Even now, Hibari Kyouya still managed to strike fear through the hearts of all the herbivores around him. 

In all honesty, Tsuna wouldn’t be surprised if his Foundation was secretly trying to take over the world. If anyone could do it, it would be Hibari Kyouya. 

Hibari finally turned his face to stare at Tsuna and his grin grew when he noticed the split bottom lip his usually immaculate handsome guardian was now sporting, knowing that Tsuna had been the one to do that damage just a moment ago. 

It should really be worrying how Tsuna found some form of giddiness over the fact that he managed to hurt his Cloud Guardian to this degree but this was Hibari Kyouya! 

He finally got an indisputable draw from his strongest guardian.

No matter what they say, no matter how much both Reborn and Gokudera told him that he was stronger than Hibari, Tsuna never really believed them. Maybe the torch he kept for Hibari was clouding his judgment but, to him, Hibari was still the strongest man he would ever know. 

Because no matter how strong he was the last time Tsuna met him, he would always be so much stronger the next time they meet.

“You’re too happy for someone who definitely has two broken ribs.” Hibari finally spoke, his voice hoarse from where Tsuna had elbowed his throat just a while ago, the damage heavily mitigated by both Hibari's inhuman resilience and his Cloud flames. Tsuna was pretty sure that his Cloud Guardian was secreting trying to create his own version of Skull's Undead Body skill. 

And that was a scary thought. 

“Two? I think you broke four.” Tsuna retorted with a pained chuckle, “God. Gokudera is going to throw a fit when he sees me.”

“That herbivore would throw a fit regardless.” Hibari reminded him casually as he lifted his hand to poke at the bruise on Tsuna’s eye, “I can’t believe I got you on the eye. Your defense is abysmal.”

“I did it on purpose.” Tsuna mumbled, tiredly smacking Hibari’s hand away as he reminded him, “I got you good, right?”

“If you mean the broken leg I now have as ‘got me good’ then yes, you did.” Hibari glared at his broken leg as if it had personally offended him for being broken by Tsuna’s attack.

Tsuna couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of their current situation. Sure, they were both heavily injured but none of them were life-threatening in the face of the almost miraculous healing capabilities of Sun flames users. There was a reason why Gokudera always had ten Sun flames users on standby whenever the month that Hibari would come to visit came, even getting Lussuria to stay in Vongola Italy Headquarters if he could, mainly because he was one of the best they had. 

Right now, they remained lying on the floor, trying to catch their breath. Later, once Tsuna felt like an actual living person in need of dire medical attention and not a dying man with the worst taste in men (actually just ‘man’ since he had only been in love with one man, how sad is that?), he would drag his body to the wall with the big red button and press it so the Sun flame users that were on standby for this very reason would finally know it was safe to enter the training room and help them. 

“So, how was China?” Tsuna asked, actually curious how Hibari’s trip to Fon’s hometown went. He knew by now that Hibari was related to Fon via his half-Chinese mother but the actual relationship between the two remained a mystery to everyone. Tsuna did know that Hibari went to China to visit Fon’s actual hometown for some reason not privy to Vongola while most of Vongola just knew that Hibari was in China with his Foundation. Something that annoyed many high ranking members of Vongola who had been disgruntled over Hibari’s autonomy ever since he finally emerged from the shadows with his newly created Foundation the same year Tsuna officially became Neo Vongola Primo.

Not that they could say it right to Hibari’s face. Only those with a death wish would do that. 

“It had what I needed to make my Foundation just as strong as Vongola.” Hibari replied vaguely, his lips curving into a small smirk as he declared, “It’s now as strong as Vongola.”

Instead of feeling threatened, amusement was all Tsuna could feel as he playfully commented, “You shouldn’t say that in front of other people, Hibari-san. They might think you’re planning to go against Vongola.”

Hibari scoffed and turned his head to stare at the battered and burnt ceiling as he retorted, “Some herbivores also thought the same thing when CEDEF was created.”

Tsuna closed his eyes at that, humming instead of saying anything. He wasn’t sure if Hibari was planning to repeat what Alaude had done with CEDEF, making the Foundation as some kind of autonomous organization to keep Vongola from straying from its original goal. With the reduced power and leverage CEDEF had compared to what it had been before, perhaps it was better if Hibari’s Foundation took over. Maybe he can get Hibari and Sawada Iemitsu to talk about some kind of merger.

Nope.

Scratch that thought.

If Tsuna could only stand to stay in the same room as the man who had sired him because he loved his mother dearly, Hibari never had the same patience. Out of all his guardians, Hibari was the most hostile against Iemitsu. Even Mukuro could hold a civil conversation with the older Sawada, filled with thinly hidden threats but civil nonetheless. Tsuna was sure Hibari was just looking for an excuse to finally bite Sawada Iemitsu to death.

Why though, Tsuna never really understood. That man probably did something in Namimori that threatened the order and discipline or something. Hibari’s love for Namimori had never faltered, no matter how many years have passed. Tsuna knew that Hibari usually stayed in Namimori if he wasn’t out doing god knows what somewhere in the world. Also, he still held on to the idea that Hibari was secretly the true highest authority in Namimori, especially now that he knew that the Hibari clan actually has ties with the Chinese triad and many well-known Yakuza groups. Reborn had been vague with the details and Fon simply changed the subject each time but he could read between the lines. He was pretty sure Hibari Kyouya was the head of the Hibari clan and his declaration just now probably meant he just got the support of the main branch of the ruling clan from Fon's hometown. 

Tsuna grunted when he felt something hit his chest and opened his eyes, blinking when he saw a small box on his chest. He turned to face the only person who could have thrown said box and found Hibari staring at the purring Sky lion cub on his chest as he rubbed the spot behind his left ear that Tsuna knew would make Nattsu putty in Hibari’s hands. As expected, Nattsu purred loudly and thoroughly enjoyed the attention.

God. He can’t believe he was jealous of his own ring animal. 

On the other hand, Roll had decided to climb on Tsuna’s chest and push the box towards him. 

He wasn’t sure when both ring animals had left their Vongola gear as he was sure they had been recalled once Tsuna and Hibari had fallen to the ground in sheer exhaustion but he wasn’t going to even question it at this point. It was common for his and his guardians’ ring animals to leave their Vongola gear whenever they felt like it.

He was just glad that Primo and his guardians rarely did the same.

It would have been hard to explain why any of them were corporal without having to explain how their Vongola gears (and, by extension, the Vongola rings) actually worked. 

Tsuna tiredly took the box from Roll and opened it, blinking as he saw the ring inside. It was a simple white gold ring with a pear-shaped orange gem in the middle, the gem was the same color as his eyes whenever he goes in his hyper dying-will form. 

Curious why Hibari decided to give (throw) it to him now and not before the fight, Tsuna put the ring on his right ring finger, between the main ring and the smaller ring of his Ring of Sky Version X. He closed his fist and watched as the main ring of his Vongola gear erupted with his sky flame. He frowned when the ring on his ring finger didn’t. 

“Are you sure this is a sky ring, Hibari-san?” Tsuna asked, turning towards his Cloud Guardian. He blinked when he noticed that the older man was glaring at him. Wondering what he did to annoy his easily irritated guardian this time, he asked cautiously, “Hibari-san?”

Hibari turned his head to stare at the ceiling as he placed his hand over his face, sighing loudly before mumbling, “I forgot you’re an idiot at this kind of thing.”

Hibari rubbed his face once before turning to stare at Tsuna as he explained slowly, “That’s an engagement ring.”

Tsuna blinked.

He turned to stare at the ring on his ring finger. 

Then he turned to stare at his Cloud Guardian.

He blinked once more.

“I’m sorry, this is a what now?” Tsuna finally asked, fearing that he had finally snapped and he just had an auditory hallucination. Maybe getting a tonfa strike on the face had really been a bad idea. 

“That infant was right.” Hibari sighed, slowly raising his upper body as he gently placed Nattsu on the ground next to him while Tsuna realized he was talking about Reborn. Even though his former home tutor was no longer a baby, Hibari still liked to call him infant because he was weird like that. Tsuna could only stare as the dark-haired man moved, trapping Tsuna as he placed both his hands right next to Tsuna’s head and his knees between the younger man’s legs. Tsuna should be worried that such a dangerous man was now right on top of him but his brain wasn’t working that well right now. Especially when Hibari decided to lean forward, his face dangerously close to Tsuna’s as he whispered, “You need everything spelled out for you or you just won’t get it.”

“In my defense…” Tsuna started, actually surprised that he sounded calm when he was absolutely not at all calm, “A lot of things can be misunderstood unless it's clearly stated.”

Because he had held onto this torch since the last year of middle school without thinking it would ever be reciprocated. He had made his peace with it. There was no way in hell he was going to give in to hope now.

Not when he knew, for a fact, that Hibari was a strange man who does strange things no one could understand. 

“Then let me say it clearly for your sake.” Hibari's lips curved into the cocky smirk that Tsuna used to associate with fear until he realized one day that he had actually gone insane and fallen in love with the sight of Hibari's smile. The older man's voice was full of confidence and amusement as he confessed, "I love you. Marry me, Sawada Tsunayoshi." 

There was no burst of fireworks, no sudden blooming of flowers and definitely no swooning because all Tsuna could do was blink at him and ask in a confused tone, “I’m sorry? Did you just…”

Tsuna blinked once more before tilting his head as he asked, “Did you just tell me you love then ask me to marry you, Hibari-san?”

Hibari’s brows furrowed as he replied, “Yes, that’s what I did say. Do you not understand simple Japanese now that you’re surrounded by all these Italian herbivores?”

“Oh I still understand Japanese, thank you very much.” Tsuna retorted before trying to explain as he felt a headache forming, “I’m sorry, Hibari-san. I’m just really, really confused right now. Since when have you been in love with me?”

Hibari had the audacity to shrug as he replied, “Around the time that other little animal transferred to Namimori Middle School.”

Other little ani-

Was he talking about Enma?

Wait.

Enma transferred during Tsuna’s… 

“Second year in midd-!” Tsuna covered his mouth to muffle a frustrated scream. He banged the back of his head against the floor much to Hibari’s amusement to regain a bit of his composure (and sanity) before staring at his Cloud Guardian as he tried to understand, “Are you telling me that you’ve been in love with me since my second year in middle school?”

When he got a silent nod from Hibari, Tsuna couldn’t help but ask in an almost hysterical tone, “And you’ve never told me before?!”

Hibari raised an eyebrow as he retorted, “Would you have accepted my feelings if I had confessed to you back then?”

Tsuna actually took a moment to think about it before he admitted in an almost sheepish tone, “Yeah… no. I’d probably be too afraid to reject you but I still thought I was in love with Kyoko-chan back then.”

“Oh, god.” He covered his face as he mumbled, “I can’t believe we’ve been in love with each other for this long and we’ve never managed to confess at all! This is ridiculous!”

Hibari realized now wasn’t a good idea to actually tell Tsuna that he had deliberately sabotaged the younger man’s two attempts on confessing because he was a prideful man who wanted to be the one to confess first. Instead, he grabbed both of Tsuna’s wrists and held them on either side of the young don’s head as he said, “You haven’t answered me yet, Tsunayoshi.”

“You never asked a question, Hibari-san.” Tsuna replied cheekily even though the blush on his face was a dead giveaway of what he’s really feeling.

“That’s because there’s only one answer.” Hibari retorted with a cocky smirk.

The man underneath him sighed as he reminded him, “We’ve never even gone on a date before.”

“We went out a lot of times before.” Hibari countered, “A lot of them during middle school.”

It took a moment for Tsuna to realize that the crazy man on top of him was talking about the many misadventures he had to suffer through following Hibari around while he patrolled both the school and Namimori itself. Tsuna sputtered as he said, “T-t-that does-”

Tsuna stopped as his brain happily provided some of the more peaceful memories of their patrolling. Like the time they actually stopped by a cafe and Hibari treated him a large parfait or that time when they were walking in Namimori Park and Tsuna managed to actually have a civil conversation with the usually quiet chairman or that one time that Tsuna got Hibari to try out the crepes that he had tried with Kyoko and Haru back in-

Oh dear god.

Had he been accidentally dating Hibari Kyouya back in middle school?

Oh god.

Hana was right!

He had actually been ditching school to go on dates!

Wait.

Did this mean that they had been together since middle school?!

Did this mean that he had, unintentionally, been having a long-distance relationship with Hibari ever since middle school?!

“Tsunayoshi?” Tsuna couldn’t help but stare at Hibari as the older man said, “If you want us to go on an actual date, I can arrange for it.”

“No. It’s fine.” Tsuna mumbled, thinking it would be nice but knowing that his busy schedule would definitely not agree with it unless the ‘arrange’ that Hibari meant included kidnapping him.

… considering who he was talking to, Tsuna would honestly not put it past Hibari to do just that.

“We’ve never even kissed before.” Tsuna sighed, wondering just how screwed up this whole thing was. 

The mischievous smirk on Hibari’s face that reminded Tsuna of the time he had pretended to throw Leon at him during the Vongola snow fight was all the warning he got before Hibari finally captured his lips.

Tsuna’s eyes widened at the sudden touch of Hibari’s lips against his. His eyes closed as he felt Hibari bit his bottom lip, making him gasp and giving the older man the chance to deepen the kiss.

As much as he hated to admit it, this was not his first kiss. That one was unfortunately taken by Dr. Shamal because Tsuna was just that unfortunate.

However, his first kiss with Hibari was an experience he will never forget. It tasted of blood, probably because Tsuna did manage to punch him right on the lips during their latest spar. His entire world didn’t explode in different kinds of colors and his legs didn’t give out because he was so tired he couldn’t feel his legs in the first place. 

But it was Hibari and his kiss reminded Tsuna of how he fights, like a hungry beast who takes what he wants, leaving Tsuna breathless and incapable of thinking too deeply about anything.

When he finally pulled away, a thin sliver of saliva connected their lips. His grey eyes were intense as they stared at him, whispering once more, “Any more objections?”

“Yes.” Tsuna whispered back, making Hibari frown. Realizing that he had misunderstood Tsuna’s word, the younger man twisted his hands to get away from Hibari’s grip as he chuckled softly. He wrapped his arms around Hibari, grinning as he repeated cheekily, “I love you. Marry me, Hibari Kyouya.” 

The smile that graced Hibari’s face made his heart skip a beat and he pulled him for another kiss.

The Sun flame users on standby did not receive the clear signal until two hours later… 

  
  


* * *

Additional Scene (1) 

Tsuna would later call Enma and tell him everything that had happened to ask the only sane person he knew if he had, unintentionally, been dating Hibari Kyouya these past few years without realizing it. Tsuna could try to suffocate himself with his pillow as Enma replied with a confused “Since third year? Oh. I thought you two were secretly dating when we met actually.” 

* * *

Additional Scene (2)

(Neo Vongola Primo Groupchat - Don’t invite Tsuna or Hibari!)

Storm: Hey, you fuckers. I have visual confirmation that bastard has finally asked Tenth to marry him. Tenth’s been wearing a ring since his yearly death match today. Fucking slowass bastard. I’ll try and get verbal confirmation from Tenth tomorrow but he’s staying in that bastard’s room tonight so I think we can all agree that’s pretty much all the confirmation we need. 

Lightning: Oh no. I lost the bet :( Who had this year?

Rain: Me

Lighting: Damn itttttttt!

Sun: CONGRATS YAMAMOTO!

Good Mist: Congrats, Takeshi.

Pineapple Mist: I was so close. Why couldn’t Skylark do it next year?

Rain: Hahahaha I won so I get to be Tsuna’s best man

Storm: Fuck you, Takeshi! Fuck you and fuck this shitty bet! And fuck that bastard for not asking Tenth’s hand two years ago! Slowass motherfucker!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was okay.  
> I had another HibaTsuna fic idea for the month but I wrote this instead because I was rewatching the anime and the Winter Test of Courage episode was just so fun to watch even if Hibari wasn’t in it XD  
> Why isn’t Reborn in the fic? He’s watching the entire thing in the comforts of the security room in the Vongola Estate with Nono.  
> I didn't bother to differentiate if characters spoke in Italian or Japanese 'cause I did not think it mattered. For those who are wondering, other than scenes with Haru/Kyoko, Gokudera/Yamamoto/Ryohei and Hibari (and the additional scenes), the characters were speaking in Italian. Alaude spoke Japanese to Tsuna because Hibari was using Japanese before he hid and used Alaude as a scapegoat.


End file.
